Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)

- transmissible neurodegenerative disease - impacts cattle and humans (very similar to new variant of CJF) - first described in the UK in 1986 - 172k UK cattle cases prior to 1998 - signs: behavioral changes (poor coordination, aggression), ataxia, dementia - 3-5 year incubation period - confirm diagnosis with post-mortem histopathology of the brain - changes to brain: increased vacuolation of neurons, build up of protease-resistant protein (PrP), neurons may contain fibrils of PrP